Leonard Pope is best known as a professional football player. But for a family in Americus, Ga., Pope is more aptly described as a hero.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end came to the rescue last weekend, saving six-year-old Bryson Moore from drowning in a family swimming pool.

“We were attending a pool party, and Bryson was in the water with the other kids,” the boy’s mother, Anne Moore, told the Americus Times-Recorder in Monday’s edition. “All of a sudden, I saw Bryson going down in the water and I started screaming. Leonard was inside, and he came out of nowhere and dove into the water without any hesitation, cell phone in his pocket and all.

He saved my son’s life, and I am so thankful that he was there for me and my child.”